Home owner rent deductions

[jeremybeckett7]

I am the owner of a house that I bought in December of 2016. I have roommates already but didnt receive any rental income to report for 2016. However, I did have a lot of expenses that I believe can count as rental expenses. Can I report these on this years or should I wait till next year to report them when I have rental income to go along with it?

[AnnetteB]

Even though you did not have rental income during 2016, if you made your property available for rent during 2016, then you can deduct your ordinary and necessary expenses for managing, conserving, or maintaining the rental property.

Once the property was available and advertised for rent, it became a rental property and your expenses then become rental expenses. 

For more details, see the following TurboTax article:  https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Rental-Property/Rental-Property-Deductions-You-Can-Ta...

Also, take a look at IRS Publication 527 (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p527/index.html) and for more tips:  https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/rental-income-and-expenses-real-estate...